Written Answers Thursday 22 October 2009

Scottish Executive

Climate Change

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what its implementation plan is for section 68 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.

Fergus Ewing: Under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 (Commencement No. 1) Order 2009 (SSI 2009/341), section 68 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 will come into force on 1 April 2010. http://www.opsi.gov.uk/legislation/scotland/ssi2009/ssi_20090341_en_1 .

Climate Change

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will issue guidance to local authorities and others on the application of section 68 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.

Fergus Ewing: We are currently considering what guidance can be provided on this. There is existing guidance available on improving the environmental performance of buildings. This includes the Net Waste Tool, by the Waste and Resources Action Programme, www.wrap.org.uk/nwtool , which enables project teams to estimate the carbon savings associated with implementing the top opportunities for waste reduction and recovery on a construction project; information from the Carbon Trust, on low carbon buildings, www.carbontrust.co.uk/technology/technologyaccelerator/lcba.htm , and information from SUST on sustainable design in architecture and the built environment, www.sust.org/ .

Climate Change

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether section 68 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 would be applied to the disposal of property in Scotland owned by the UK Government.

Fergus Ewing: Section 68 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 inserts section 46A into the Title Conditions (Scotland) Act 2003. Section 46A lays down that "on and after the day on which this section comes into force, it shall be competent to create a real burden" in relation to climate change. Section 6(1)(a) of the 2003 act lays down that "a real burden is created by registering against the land which is to be the burdened property a deed which is granted by or on behalf of the owner of that land". Therefore, once section 68 is commenced, any owner of land, including the UK Government, may create a climate change burden. However, it is not mandatory for them to do so.

Drug Misuse

Margaret Curran (Glasgow Baillieston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are being taken to reduce the number of drug addicts.

Fergus Ewing: The focus of this government is firmly on delivery. We are establishing a new Drugs Strategy Delivery Commission and have published a new framework for action on alcohol and drugs. We are setting up a Scottish Drugs Recovery Consortium whose role will be to advocate, catalyse and lobby for recovery to be the mainstay of drug services. Frontline services are also benefiting from an 18% increase in funding since 2006-07, and for the first time we are developing a national HEAT target that will offer people with drug problems faster access to a range of appropriate drug services to promote recovery.

Drug Misuse

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has cost NHS Lothian to treat patients admitted to hospital as a result of drug misuse in each of the last five years.

Fergus Ewing: This information is not held centrally.

  Funding is allocated from the Scottish Government to health boards for drug treatment and rehabilitation services. The following table sets out the funding that has been made available to NHS Lothian in each of the last five years, from 2005-06 to 2009-10.

  

Financial Year
NHS Lothian* Allocation (£000)


 2005-06
 4,645


 2006-07
 4,645


 2007-08
 4,645


 2008-09
 4,821


 2009-10
 5,472



  Note: *NHS Lothian is comprised of the City of Edinburgh, Midlothian and East Lothian and West Lothian alcohol and drug partnerships.

  The allocations detailed in the table only represent the ring-fenced money provided by the Scottish Government to NHS Lothian for drug treatment and rehabilitation services; the health board and other local partners are able to supplement these funds to tackle problem drug use, in order to meet the needs of the local population.

Health

Nicol Stephen (Aberdeen South) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients have been transferred to other European countries for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) NHS board and (b) country.

Nicola Sturgeon: There are existing long-standing reciprocal arrangements in place to ensure that patients requiring extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in the UK can receive treatment at European ECMO centres when the national UK centre at Leicester is operating at full capacity.

  Under these arrangements, only one adult patient from NHS Ayrshire and Arran was transferred for treatment to Stockholm, Sweden, in July 2009.

Housing

Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) council, (b) New Supply Shared Equity Scheme and (c) Open Market Shared Equity Scheme houses were built in (i) 2007 and (ii) 2008, and are anticipated to be built in (A) 2009, (B) 2010 and (C) 2011 in each Scottish parliamentary constituency in the Highlands and Islands region.

The Executive have supplied the following corrected answer:

Alex Neil: The following information on new council houses and New Supply Shared Equity properties built is for the five local authority areas that encompass the Highland and Islands Parliamentary constituencies. Information on the number of houses built is not held by calendar year or by Scottish parliamentary constituency.

  Council Houses: There were no units completed in the Highland and Islands parliamentary constituencies in 2007-08. One unit was completed in Orkney in 2008-09 and there are no completions anticipated in 2009-10.

  We anticipate that 30 units will complete in 2010-11 as a result of Orkney Council’s award from the first round of funding to kick start a new generation of local authority homes

  New Supply Shared Equity: The following table shows actual completion figures for 2007-08 and 2008-09 and anticipated completions for 2009-10. Figures are not yet available for 2010-11.

  

New Supply Shared Equity
2007-08 Actual
 2008-09 Actual
 2009-10 Estimate


 Highland
 66
 138
 180


 Orkney
 0
 0
 0


 Shetland
 0
 6
 0


 Western Isles
 0
 0
 2


 Argyll and Bute
 39
 20
 40


 Total
 105
 164
 222



  The Open Market Shared Equity pilot (OMSEP) started in The Highland Council area in 2008-09 and was introduced in Orkney, Shetland, Western Isles and Argyll and Bute in 2009-10. The Open Market Shared Equity Pilot allows eligible individuals to purchase a home from the open market and does not lead to a new property being built. The following table shows completed sales in each local authority area by financial year.

  

Open Market Shared Equity Pilot
Actual Sales 2008-09
Sales Target 2009-10


 Highland
 35
 88


 Orkney
 0
 5


 Shetland
 0
 5


 Western Isles
 0
 5


 Argyll and Bute
 0
 17


 Total
 35
 120



  The actual sales figure in 2008-09 for Highland is an updated figure to that provided in the answer to question S3W-26078 on 17 August 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

  The data provided in this report are based on management information. The official statistics on the Affordable Housing Investment Programme, and on other housing statistics, do not provide the specific detail requested but can be found at the housing statistics for Scotland web pages at:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Housing-Regeneration/HSfS/KeyInfo.

Housing

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, in its announcement on 28 September 2009 regarding loans from the European Investment Bank, what is meant by "new affordable private home developments".

Alex Neil: We apologise for any misunderstanding. The news release should have read "new affordable home developments". The word "private" was duplicated in the text by mistake.

Housing

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the timeframe is for access to the £50 million lending facility from the European Investment Bank.

Alex Neil: Scottish housing associations are expected to be able to access the £50 million of European money from The Housing Finance Corporation (THFC) from around December 2009. This depends on completion of the formal loan agreement between THFC and the European Investment Bank, and on housing associations which have applied for a share of the money successfully getting through THFC’s credit appraisal. Both processes are currently underway.

Housing

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what rate of interest will be charged on loans from the £50 million lending facility from the European Investment Bank.

Alex Neil: The rate of interest to be charged will only be known when the loan agreement between the European Investment Bank (EIB) and The Housing Finance Corporation is finalised. Because the EIB is AAA-rated, it is able to source funds from the international capital markets at competitive rates otherwise only available to sovereign states. One of the conditions of EIB funding is that the same rate is charged by The Housing Finance Corporation when it subsequently lends the money on to individual housing associations.

Housing

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the £50 million lending facility from the European Investment Bank will be available for social rented housing.

Alex Neil: Yes. The Housing Finance Corporation is only permitted to lend to registered social landlords (housing associations) and the European Investment Bank only allows funds for housing, provided through The Housing Finance Corporation, to be used to fund homes for rent.

Housing

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Housing Finance Corporation will charge fees for handling loans from the £50 million lending facility from the European Investment Bank.

Alex Neil: All lenders, even not-for-profit bodies like The Housing Finance Corporation, incur administrative costs which need to be paid for. Lenders recover these costs from their customers and The Housing Finance Corporation charges a fee to its customers in order to meet its administrative costs.

Prison Service

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-27347 by Kenny MacAskill on 24 September 2009, what the cost was of recent advertisements seeking applications for membership of prison visiting committees and how such members will fit into the new committees.

Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

  The cost of the recent advertisements seeking applications for membership of prison visiting committees to fill expected vacancies at the three Young Offender Institutions at Polmont, Cornton Vale and Perth was £2347.59.

  Young Offender Institution visiting committee membership requires that at least one third and a minimum of two members will be women. The most recent recruitment campaign is aimed at addressing shortfalls in this area and maintaining the required level of women visiting committee members.